My 3-tuner HdHomeRun Prime is scheduled to be delivered today. I figured I'd
look into how to set the thing up ahead of time, but the wiki page at
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Silicondust_HDHomeRun_Prime doesn't have any
setup information. From what I've read on the mailing list, the setup seems
to be a bit of an evolving process - I've seen some threads that say it's
just like setting up a standard HDHR, but I've also seen instances where an
extra step is needed to populate all the channel information. What's the
latest and greatest way to set this tuner up?
Thanks,
Matt
There is a configuration page on the wiki:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_MythTV_for_the_HDHome[..]
I should be getting mine today as well. Can't wait
Pat
--
http://tllts.org/ - The Linux Link Tech Show
http://mythtvcast.com/ - MythTVCast
http://patdavila.wordpress.com - My blog
Ahh thanks, I added a link to the wiki page mentioned in the OP.
A question related to this procedure: if I'm using a previously established
channel lineup which works for STB-Firewire (which also tunes by virtual
channel number), do I still need to create a new separate line-up, using a
testing tuner and retrieving lineup-info from SchedulesDirect? Or can I
re-purpose that lineup? (In my case, I plan on replacing the STB with the
PRIME.) My assumption is that that the channel fetch fills in the actual
virtual number for each channel. If that's all it does and is required for
using the PRIME, I should be good to go, right? Or is some other magic
happening?
In theory, it *should* work, but I have dealt with at least one person
who tried to do this and had it not work on them-- a fresh lineup
worked properly for them. Since I didn't look at that user's channel
table, I can't be sure he did it properly, so YMMV.
remember 5C protection and CCI flags do *not* have a direct
relationship with one another, and that the Prime has to behave
according to some CableLabs rules that firewire doesn't.
Specifically, if CGMS for the channel is rcd-protected (Broadcast flag
present in the stream), and there is no CCI set on the channel, the
prime is not permitted to stream the data to anything but WMC. In my
market this is about a half dozen channels including some ClearQAM
ones. I'm forced to capture CBS and FOX on the QAM tuner for this
reason.
There's really no penalty in having a different lineup for both
devices. Since there will almost definitely be at least some
variance, I would advise doing so.
Robert
Thank you -- understood. I will create a separate lineup as you suggest,
starting with the SD source for my Firewire list of digital channels, and go
from there.
I should clarify that sharing the Schedules Direct lineup is a-ok...
it's only the "video source" in mythtv that you probably want to
create a fresh one of.
Robert
Good clarification -- I understood it that way (even if I was being
sloppy/backwards with source/lineup terminology), but maybe someone else
reading this would not. I will be creating a Prime new video source in
mythtv from the same (existing) SchedulesDirect lineup previously used to
create my Digital Cable video source.
Sort of. I've never personally been able to get firewire capture to
work on a channel that didn't also have CCI = 0x0, either with Comcast
or Verizon. (And my understanding is that having CCI = 0x0 is
distinct from having no CCI set on the channel.) In actual practice,
what works with firewire might be identical to what works with a cable
card tuner.
The only penalty I can think of is just having a bit more to manage
and making the mythweb channel editor page even more unwieldy.
Eric
Thanks for all the updates, this will be useful when I finally get a
CableCard. Silly me, I just assumed that one of the Charter offices within a
50-mile radius would have CableCards in stock. Their system is so awful that
they can't tell me if each office has one in stock, so my last hope is a 30
mile drive tomorrow. Otherwise I have to wait till Friday afternoon. The STB
hooked to my HD-PVR is an SA4250HDC, with the C standing for CableCard. I
wonder if I could yank the card out of that box and jam it in my Prime...
If the card will authenticate in the system, you are supposed to be
able to get copy freely channels (read: everything useful for Myth)
without the need for activation. So the theory goes, anyway-- I had
planned to test it but my card was activated and paired at the same
time. YMMV.
Basically, Authenticated == "I am supposed to be here and I am a legit
device known by this network," Provisioned == "I am a legit cablecard
and have the correct channels associated with me on the account", and
Activated == "I am a legit cablecard, and I am paired with THIS
SPECIFIC DEVICE, which is free to tune copy-controlled content."
Or so I understand it.
Robert
Wrong. You will get unencrypted channels with a cablecard that doesn't
have a complete activation, but you won't get all copy free channels.
If you think about it, it's possible to have Cope Free channels that
are only part of premium packages, so it wouldn't make sense to have
them available on an unauthenticated card (and also, Copy Free
channels are still encrypted, so the cablecard wouldn't be able to
decrypt them without receiving the decryption keys). I can confirm
that it works this way, both based on a number of users I've helped
with getting their Ceton cards working in myth, and based on my own
experiences.
To give a little more background on the setup process there are a few
steps in configuring a cablecard (I've sort of deduced this based on
all the people I've talked to, including many other users, customer
support at both Ceton and Silicon Dust, and an engineer from my cable
provider's NOC).
The first thing is that the card needs to be configured for the cable
provider. This consists of 2 parts...first, the card has to be
provisioned, meaning it has to be loaded with the cable company's
appropriate software. Second, it has to be paired with the card by the
cable provider's system (knowing that the cablecard with serial number
X is installed in device with Host ID Y). Ideally, the provisioning
should be done before the card makes it into your hands. However, a
large number of people have experienced a less-than-simple process of
getting their cards configured, and from what I can tell, the problem
is often that they've received unprovisioned cards. Luckily the
provisioning can be done remotely. I'm not really sure if that
technically is done before or after the pairing (I don't know if they
pair and then upload/update the software, or do the upload and THEN
pair).
Once the card has passed both parts of this first step, it will then
be able to tune clear QAM channels.
The next step is that the card needs to know what channels you are
entitled to receive. This data comes in the EMM (entitlement
management message). The EMM basically tells the cable card all of the
channels that you are authorized to receive. When your card is first
setup, you should receive an EMM update to the card. The EMM is good
for a fixed period of time (30 days on my cable system). The cable
provider will periodically send out an EMM update (they will also send
one out any time you upgrade or downgrade your service). Any time you
receive an updated EMM, it resets the timeout period. Once the timeout
period elapses without you receiving an updated EMM, the card will
revert to only playing clear QAM stations. I can verify that it works
this way because (for an unknown reason) I never received the EMM
updates for the first month I had my card setup, and on day 30
suddenly I was only authorized to tune the clear QAM stations. I got
in touch with my contact at the NOC, he push an EMM out to my card,
and I instantly had all my stations back.
--
Ron Frazier
You are missing the context. The card he is speaking of is already
provisioned. It's in his cable box. The only thing missing if he
takes it and puts it in the Prime is the pairing, which is necessary
to get channels where CCI != 0x00. The above response is based on
being explicitly told such by SiliconDust employees.
26-08-2011 17:07:51 < jludka!bitbucket@pdpc/supporter/active/jludka:
also, card activation status is irrelevant for mythtv, it is only
needed for copy protected stuff
26-08-2011 17:09:44 < jludka!bitbucket@pdpc/supporter/active/jludka:
some providers have their stuff set to report not-subscribed then
switch to subscribed if the card isnt activated
26-08-2011 17:09:51 < jludka!bitbucket@pdpc/supporter/active/jludka:
or so i'm told anyway
26-08-2011 17:10:11 < jludka!bitbucket@pdpc/supporter/active/jludka: i
have been running an unactivated card for a year now on fios and it
works fine ;)
Robert
Oh, well I can somewhat answer that too. I had to RMA my Ceton card.
The cablecard was working on my old Ceton card. When I put the
cablecard in my new Ceton card 5 minutes later, I definitely did NOT
get any of the encrypted channels (not even the Copy Freely ones). I
do not recall for certain whether I got no channels or just the clear
QAM channels, but the encrypted Copy Free channels definitely did NOT
work. I doubt something like this would be different between the Ceton
and SD devices, as it's almost certainly explicitly spelled out by
CableLabs in the specs. Now, if a particular cable company majorly
screwed the pooch with their backend system or cablecard software, I
can't say, but it's most certainly not a universal thing.
--
Ron Frazier
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